Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are devices that are typically worn in the crotch region of an undergarment. These devices are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Improving the performance of such absorbent articles, particularly the leakage performance of the same, continues to be a formidable undertaking, although a number of improvements have been made in both their materials and structures.
For instance, disposable absorbent articles have previously been provided with elastic members to improve the side leakage performance of such products. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,003, issued to Buell on Jan. 14, 1975, discloses elasticized disposable absorbent articles wherein an elastic member is positioned in the side flap of the product between the topsheet and the backsheet. The side flap is gathered by the elastic member such that a boat-like configuration for the pad is presented and the side flaps form a barrier along the edges of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,677 issued to Foreman entitled "Absorbent Article Having A Containment Pocket", discloses another type of barrier to the flow of liquids which comprises a first set of barrier cuffs along the longitudinal edges of the absorbent article and a second set of barrier cuffs along the end edges of the absorbent article. The barrier cuffs overlap at corner points to form a containment pocket. The first set of barrier cuffs are provided with a spacing means, such as an elastic member, which spaces both sets of barrier cuffs away from the liquid-receiving surface of the absorbent article.
Typically, most of the disposable absorbent articles of the types mentioned above (that is, sanitary napkins, panty liners, and incontinence pads) are made of materials that will not stretch. That is, the materials (and the article itself) will not stretch under the forces that the absorbent article is normally subjected to when worn. Recently, however, efforts have been directed toward providing extensible absorbent articles for improved comfort and conformity with the wearer's body and undergarments (if the article is of a type worn in an undergarment). PCT Application Publication No. 93/01785 and its corresponding U.S. application Ser. No. 07/915,133, both filed Jul. 23, 1992 (of which the present application is a continuation-in-part), discloses extensible absorbent articles. The search for improvements to the features of such absorbent articles has, however, continued.
In particular, a need exists for an extensible absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is provided with barriers to the flow of liquids.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an extensible absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is provided with barriers to the flow of liquids.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an extensible absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is provided with barriers that are less extensible than the sanitary napkin and will change from a relatively flat disposition to a more upright disposition when the sanitary napkin is extended.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.